World Radio Day, 2019
On behalf of All India Radio, India’s Public Service
Broadcaster, I, F. Sheheryar extend my heartiest greetings to each and every
member of the Radio fraternity across the globe, this World Radio Day, 2019.
This year’s theme, i.e. ‘Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace’ is a
powerful phrase in itself, with implicit and explicit implications that pertain
not just to India or the Asia-Pacific region, but to the entire world. Understood in a deeper sense in letter and
spirit, the term is a panacea for a world which seems to be ailing in certain
key areas of human dignity and cohesion, more so for the last few decades. India’s age old approach has been proactively
proclaiming the essence of ‘Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace’ through tenets such
as ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ and through the teachings of Ramanujacharya, Kabir
and Guru Nanak; in recent times of Mahatama Gandhi, whose 150th
birth anniversary year is being observed worldwide.
The Radio sector, particularly Public Service Broadcasting
finds itself in a flux today for a flurry of reasons … a major one being a
transition in public psyche in terms of the ability to assess psycho-social
impact. Coupled with the glossy media’s
overarching inclination towards the basal and the banal, lucratively so, this
has gravitated general public tastes away from human substance, towards a
glitter, most don’t even understand as a mirage. This has led to the vicious cycle of an ever
widening gap between informed awareness and consumption patterns.
World Radio Day celebrates technological achievements in the
Radio sector, but at the same time it is a grim reminder that more needs to be
done expeditiously for the benefit of the common human being and his basic
needs, to begin with. And this is where
Public Service Broadcasters step in.
SDGs such as alleviation of poverty, health and wellbeing, quality
education and gender equality, the basic pillars of the theme ‘Dialogue,
Tolerance & Peace’ are not marketing
money-spinners and naturally will never be of much interest in Board rooms
where profit charts are the sole raison d'être.
It is only the altruistic Public Service Broadcaster, of course, with
adequate help from the respective government that can creatively intervene with
its programming content.
All India Radio has had a long history of inclusive catering
much on the lines of the coverage areas of SDGs. Here, innovations in programming styles and
techniques go hand in hand with preserving time-tested traditional broadcasting
formats, just to ensure that the ‘not-so-smart’ ones are not left out
mercilessly. Besides poverty alleviation
schemes of the government, individual and institutional attempts at the same
are given due weightage in programming.
Public health and wellbeing have always been accorded top priority on
the airwaves in a number of languages and dialects to enable access to the
bottom of the pyramid. AIR with its
array of diverse programming and formats, is in itself an attempt by default at
imparting quality education free of cost.
And there is definitely huge scope in furthering the cause of formal
quality education on air, of course with much required support from the right
quarters.
Similarly,
spreading the message of gender equality and its impact on society has been a
major thrust area for All India Radio, throughout its history.
This world Radio Day is a wonderful opportunity to join
hands in introspecting if the world could be made a better place, and not just
for a few. There couldn’t have been a
better opportunity to set the tone for the advent of Ritu Basant, the season of
spring. Once again, season’s greetings
to all of you.
Shri F. Sheheryar
Director General, All India Radio &
President, Asia-Pacific Institute for
Broadcasting Development (AIBD)
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